The company said it fired Smalls after he “received multiple warnings for violating social distancing guidelines.”

Smalls and other employees walked out to call attention to the lack of protective measures for workers. They’re also urging Amazon to close the facility after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus. Organizers put the number of strikers around 50, while Amazon said it was less than 15.

“Amazon would rather fire workers than face up to its total failure to do what it should to keep us, our families, and our communities safe,” Smalls said in a statement. “I am outraged and disappointed, but I’m not shocked. As usual, Amazon would rather sweep a problem under the rug than act to keep workers and working communities safe.” — Annie Palmer

8:53 am: Los Angeles halts evictions for people and businesses who can’t pay rent due to COVID-19

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a halt on eviction in the city for people and businesses who can’t pay rent due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the state of California. Landlords are also barred from raising the rent on rent-stabilized apartments, Garcetti said.

“If you cannot pay the rent as a result of this emergency, you cannot be evicted,” Garcetti said. Residential tenants have 12 months and commercial tenants will have 3 months to pay after the emergency ends.

David Nabarro, a special envoy on COVID-19 to the World Health Organization, told CNBC that countries need to act fast and stop the coronavirus outbreak before it grows into an exponential problem.

“This set of outbreaks that are making up the pandemic increase in scale exponentially; they double in size every few days, like every three days,” Nabarro told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday. “Trying to get in ahead of an exponential problem is much easier if you’re dealing with it early on.”

Countries are being forced to make difficult decisions at the moment to try and halt virus from spreading within their borders: They want to slow down the rate of infection to a level where their respective health-care systems can handle the strain. But, to do that, they are being forced to undertake strict lockdown measures that would undoubtedly have a severe impact on their economies.

“Act quickly, act decisively, act robustly, so that you’re not caught having to deal with a much bigger, bigger problem two weeks later,” Nabarro added. — Saheli Roy Choudhury

8:21 am: China says it had 48 new cases of infection

China’s National Health Commission said there were 48 new cases of infection reported on the mainland, all of which were attributed to travelers who returned from abroad. It added that one person died from the virus in Hubei province, where the outbreak was first reported. China says more than 76,000 cases have recovered from the disease and at least 3,305 died. — Saheli Roy Choudhury

7:19 am: US cases surpass 160,000

The total number of reported cases of coronavirus infection in the United States was at least 161,807, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. Among them, at least 2,978 have died and just over 5,500 people have recovered in the country, the data revealed.

Global cases continued their upward trend, standing at least 782,319 reported instances of infection worldwide, according to JHU. The data also showed the worldwide death toll stood at more than 37,500 as countries continued to implement stricter social distancing measures in an effort to slow the virus’ spread. — Saheli Roy Choudhury

7:10 am: Italy has more than 100,000 cases but says new infections have slowed

In one of the worst-hit countries in the global pandemic, Italy’s health ministry reported that as of 6 p.m. local time on March 30, there were at least 101,739 total cases of infection among its 60 million citizens. But the ministry said the rate of new cases declined; though Reuters reported that could also be due to fewer COVID-19 tests being conducted.

At least 11,591 people died and about 14,620 have recovered from the illness.

A woman prays during the Sunday Holy Mass celebrated by priests from the roof of the church San Gabriele dell’Addolorata in Rome on March 29, 2020, amid the spread of the COVID-19 (new coronavirus) pandemic.

Tiziana Fabi | AFP | Getty Images

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told El Pais newspaper that Italy was “in the most acute phase” of the outbreak and that it was reasonable to believe that the peak was near. But, concerns remain about another surge in the number of cases in the coming days. For its part, Italy is set to extend its nationwide lockdown measures at least until the Easter season, Reuters reported. — Saheli Roy Choudhury

Glenn Fine, the acting inspector general of the Department of Defense, was appointed by another committee of IGs assigned by the new law to name a chair.

Fine will oversee a board of fellow inspectors general, all responsible for monitoring their respective departments. They include the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice, Labor, as well as the Treasury, the Small Business Administration and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. — Lauren Hirsch

Airbnb announced the decision in a letter sent to hosts in an effort to rebuild Airbnb’s relationship with its partners. Previously, the company had said that it would allow guests to cancel and receive full refunds for trips between March 14 and April 14.

6:27 pm: Field hospital goes up in New York City’s Central Park

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